Light emitting devices, such as light emitting diodes, are finding use in a variety of applications. One concern with such devices has been the efficiency of these devices. For example, incomplete light extraction from the active (light-emitting) layers in the devices may be caused by many factors, including internal reflection, coupling into waveguide modes, and dissipation in internal layers. In particular, total internal reflection at layer interfaces, dielectric waveguide modes within high index layers, and dissipation into metal contacts may cause losses. Similar problems may affect light collecting devices, such as photo diodes.